Sustainable Architectural Design in Indonesia: Responding the Current Environmental Challenges

The impacts of environmental destructions were felt in Indonesia. The irregular weather patterns, extreme temperatures, as well as floods affected many vulnerable areas in the Country oftentimes. Further, poverty and weal legal enforcement caused deforestation of 1,871,500 ha of forests annually and the extinctions of 147 species of mammals, 114 birds, 28 reptiles, 91 fishes and 28 invertebrates. Indonesia also encountered great numbers of environmental as well as manmade disasters. It was recorded 12 earthquakes & tsunamis (in 2009), 8 volcanic eruptions (in 2008), 631 floods & landslides (in 2009), and 340 typhoons (in 2009). In total 416 lives were killed and 7,444 houses damaged. Therefore, Indonesian Sustainable Architectural Design Framework should consider the requirements of these environmental challenges, not only prescribing “green rating”. The framework should be built considering the social economic conditions of Indonesian as well as local wisdoms of local Architectures. And lastly, it should be sustained by the active participation of Architectural Education Institutions and other stakeholders in Indonesia © 2011 12th SENVAR. All rights reserved.


Introduction
The impacts of environmental destructions were felt in Indonesia. The irregular weather patterns, extreme temperatures, as well as floods affected many vulnerable areas in the Country oftentimes. Further, natural resource depletion, extinction of plants and animals, loss of wildlife habitats, increasing pollution, and poverty also happened (Miller, 2003). Although possessing abundance natural resource, Indonesia still faced underdevelopment because of 49% population living in poor condition (World Bank Press Release, 2006 -Making the New Indonesia Work for the Poor). Further, weak legal enforcement and poverty caused deforestation of 64 million ha Indonesian since 1950 was inevitable and the loss of 147 species of mammals, 114 birds, 28 reptiles, 91 fishes and 28 invertebrates. (WRI et all., 2002 -State of the Forest Indonesia;WRI et all., 2000 -Trial by Fire;FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment, 2005).
The objective of the research was to find the Framework of Sustainable Architectural Design Strategy in Indonesia. The framework should address the environmental challenges; such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides, and tidal waves; as well as social economic issues; such as improving the quality of life, cost effectiveness and efficiency. The framework was urgently needed by Building Construction Sector especially by Indonesian Institute of Architects (IAI) and Universities for implementing Sustainable Development in the Country.

Literature Review
Located in the Pacific Ring of Fires, Indonesia faced natural environmental challenges, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, typhoons and manrelated environmental challenges, such as floods and landslides. It was recorded that 12 earthquakes & tsunamis (2009) Eventually, the increasing environmental challenges concerned the human sustainability. And the Sustainable Architectural Design Strategy in Indonesia was needed, exceeding the conventional Green Building Guides.
Sustainable Architectural Design could be defined as "the architectural design that delivered with environmental -friendly approach in conscious framework of sustainability. Its design carried out with minimising the negative environmental impact of buildings by enhancing efficiency and moderation in the use of materials, energy, and development space." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_architecture). And it was related to the concept of "Sustainable Development" by World Commission on Environment and Development as "the development that fulfilled the current generation needs without compromising the future generation ability to fulfil their needs" (WCED Report of 1987).
Sustainable Architectural Design could be redefined as architectural design that capture the macro -mezzo -micro understanding of the location and utilise low cost, low technology and low negative impact solutions for ensuring the human sustainability. The design also should consider the environmental, social as well as economy sustainability of the greater communities not only the clients. International

Methodology
The research was conducted with evaluating the Sustainable by Design recommendation by UIA and several Green Building Codes. Further existing Indonesian National Standard were evaluated. Later on, discussions were made internally in Petra Christian University acknowledging this issue and prescribing more integrated framework. Last but not least, a study case was examined. The case study selected was a home designed by Dr. Heinz Frick. The case was hopefully able to show sustainable design.

Sustainable Architectural Design Strategy for Indonesia
The Sustainable Architectural Design Strategy in Indonesia should encompass the following aspects: Two aspects above were crucial. Improving Quality of Live (especially Local Poor) was the main issue in Indonesia context. One example of strategy was implemented by Mangunwijaya (1998) with the local unique design and recycled materials and built by the local builders. Therefore, he supported the local economy with sustainable construction methods. This strategy was found essential for Indonesia.
Cost Effectiveness & Efficiency was also the important aspect stated by Vitruvius (www.scribd.com). Vitruvius stated, "Economy denotes the proper management of materials and of site, as well as a thrifty balancing of cost and common sense in the construction of works." Cost efficiency became the main concern of the developments causing the buildings less safe from earthquakes, floods landslides, etc. Therefore, costeffective measures were needed for ensuring the building safety while reducing the unnecessary finishing. Some Indonesian architects implementing the strategy were Eko Prawoto and Adi Purnomo (Akmal, I., 2005).

Sustainable Architectural Design Strategy in Heinz Frick House Semarang
Several aspects in the Strategy were evaluated in the Heinz Frick's house in Semarang, Indonesia. Three main aspects discussed were the Functionality, Cultural Diversity Preservation, Safety and Full Life Cycle Analysis and Management of Heinz Frick House. Other aspects were still analysed in the on-going research.
Firstly, The Heinz Frick House was found very functional and honouring the local cultural. The building is located in the Semarang, Indonesia within the Javanese and Muslim community. Adopting the local Javanese house organisation, the house was designed facilitating social interaction, living, eating, reading and cooking. On the other hand, the kitchen was located in the front part of the house for more defensible space or for security feature.
Secondly, Heinz Frick home is located in the steep highland areas of Ngemplak of Central Java. And it was designed using cost-effective structure system and building material and considering the earthquake and landslide threats. Therefore, concrete foundation with special tar asphalt mixture was used for extra mitigation. The house was built in the split-level avoiding major cut and fill.
Further, the Full Life Cycle Analysis and Management were also taken care. The high humidity (80-90%) of the site was responded with proper cross ventilation. This caused lower energy consumption. Further, innovative rainwater collection (a 12,000litre cistern) was utilised. It actually provided water for washing, cleaning and irrigation. Waste separation container and composter were also introduced for supporting the gardening activity. Sustainable paints and adhesives were used. Greeneries were also found in many building parts vertically and horizontally. All these shown that low cost, low technology, low negative impact solutions were possible for Indonesia condition.
In the SENVAR 2011, many inputs were given and they are integrated in the paper. The Dr. Heinz Frick's House could be studied further on the aspect of thermal comfort and energy saving. This further would ensure the sustainability of the house. Additionally, the idyllic house setting in the highland was found as the key point of the sustainable home, especially in the thermal comfort aspect.

Conclusion
The Sustainable Architectural Design Strategy needed to be implemented in Indonesia with consideration of Environmental Challenges as well as Socio-Economic context. The Low Cost, Low Technology and Low Negative Impact Design Strategies could be adopted successfully as implemented in Heinz Frick House in Semarang. Furthermore, site selection and integrated design were found as the key success points of the Sustainable Home.

Acknowledgement
We are grateful for the parties that had contributed guidance and knowledge during the writing process of the paper, as mentioned below: